OK, I just need to get this over with huh? I got so many great videos and images of Omar and, well, other stuff too that I wanted to wait to post a report till I got all my ducks in a row!

I uploaded many pictures and some videos to:
http://flickr.com/photos/scuba_goddess/sets/72157608622762469/


And more videos to :
http://www.youtube.com/user/ScubaGoddess67

We arrived with absolutely no problem on a non-stop flight on Delta from Atlanta. Course, we had to drive to Atlanta from Jamestown which was a little over 4 hrs and Kim was 3 hrs late, but hey, we are on Vacation!

On BON, I split from our group to grab the car while they got bags, yes, type A!!
Got it very quickly from Thrifty.
I returned to the terminal and sent out the other 2 while I helped with bags and we were on the road before anyone else on our flight. VERY Kewl!!

We unloaded our bags in room 505 of Eden Beach, only 1 up from the beach. This was great till Omar hit, haha

We got our new tags from Wanna Dive in a very expeditious manner and were diving the invisibles by 445pm BON time!!
No camera, so of course we saw so many wonderful things! No whale shark though, shucks, but it was all good!

We returned to Eden and did a night dive. The Tarpon were all over us. It was so fun. Every time we'd shine our light on a fish, they swooped in and CHOMP!

Got some nice shots of an octopus on that dive,



Sunday,
We dove the Lake and Angel City
then did afternoon dives at Andrea 1 and 2

The Andrea 1 was wonderful. We got a 7 minute video of a Spotted Ray..very cool!

here is a clip of that video



We did a night dive after our BT Dinner at Eden Beach.

The BT dinner was a Blast. Ron and Diane are wonderful people and Darlene is an absolute HOOT!!


BobbeJan's was a nice place to eat, though slow. But they all are. It wasn't any worse than the service anywhere on Island time. The food was good. The steak (I did not get it) was apparently very, very good.

We got to know Ken very well the rest of the week. I can safely speak for all of us when I say we made a new friend that week. Cindy, Kenny and I "hung out" with Ken and he is a wonderful, funny, slightly insane (haha) person and an Awesome diver. Thank you Ken for sharing part of your vacation with us and I look forward to getting together with you again very soon!!
(and don't forget to bring the "clanger" hehe)


Sunday went way too fast but was a GREAT day!

Monday we got up early and Cindy and I did a morning dive. The shift change is such a glorious thing. All the coral worms were out and did "the wave" for us as we floated by, haha.
many EELS (alive) and juveniles. The anchor had families protecting their eggs and before we started back caught 2 large file fish eating all the eggs. They were so beautiful!


Kenny and I headed to the Red Slaves later Monday morning, the current was strong but it was worth it. We filmed a turtle, not tagged. We saw a couple of rays and a large barracuda. It is very pretty on that side and worth the effort. At this point in the week, the winds were reversing for Omar and the currents were changing.



We then went to HH for a wreck cert I needed.
Ken took a video for me on this. I will upload it to one of the above links. It was basically a joke IMHO, but I do not plan to do wreck diving, so, whatever. If I change my mind I would want more training for sure!



Anyway, We went to Andrea 1 for an evening dive, Kenny, Cindy, Ken and Myself.
It was, again, a very nice dive . I love this site and I hate to think of how different it looks now. We plan to hit all this in March when I return so we can see the difference since recovering from Omar.
This is where we did our "in a tree" scenario, haha.




Monday night the wind blew like CRAZY. It was loud. It knocked down chairs and tables at the bar. Tuesday morning it continued to push harder and harder. By midmorning, the paddle boat that was on Eden's beach, was at the end of the road that runs along the front of the Apartments. Within the next hour or so it was at my front sidewalk. It was something to see. This morning was a bust for diving so, we broke out the Liquors for our coffee and watched the action for a while, then we decided to go video the action!

here is the progression of Omar..hehe


It was 2 days full of mixed emotions. I have never been through anything like that before so it was pretty exciting and a huge learning experience. At the same time, it was extremely depressing to see this beautiful Island get hit so hard and see what the locals were going through. The businesses that were destroyed.




Apparently the Divi (right Ken??) had just built a new dock and it withstood all the waves. AMAZING!! I'd say the people that built that dock will be very busy in the future. It was the only wood dock still "standing".
Wednesday Evening was fun, we had a BBQ with the group that we went with. Bob and Bart put it on for us. They felt bed we missed so much diving. We had chicken and, yep, rum punch.



The Kenny and I met Ann and Bette and her family at Will's Grill.
Ann is so gracious and Bette and her family were such a delight! Bette, I can't wait to spend more time with you and go diving together!
The weather really put a damper on our plans and we never got to dive together and I was so disappointed!



Dinner at Wil's was a little disappointing, though Ann said the service usually isn't so bad. Kenny and I only had appetizers, Kenny had some coconut and shrimp soup that he said was wonderful. Bette and Annie got entree's that each said was delightful. So, although the service was less than desirable, apparently the food was very good.


So, we wandered down town again and the damage was intensive. Karel's was gone. The streets were littered with HUGE rocks and debris. It was very sad to see.
so, along came Thursday...finally!!

Omar is gone, did a morning dive at Eden. The sand had taken over. Most of the life was still in hiding. We tried to "dust off' some coral but most of it was just buried.

We went to Baby's Beach and messed around in the shallows. The current was kickin and it was still early. So we decided to go to Angel City so we could compare it with our dive From Sunday.

WOW, It was snowing...Coral was covered in this Snow. I will continue to upload video of this to my you tube page. I am certain the silt and sand will clear away, in fact it probably already had. It was just very depressing to see. Even the second reef was covered.

We did get some nice shots of a flounder and other little fellows.

We went back to baby's beach and, upon descent spotted a shark at depth. Unbelievable. I have it on the you tube page. I was a ways from us but very cool none-the-less.
We also got some nice video and images of a very spunky Octopus.
As we headed back we found 3 massive spineys. They would not come out but I got some nice shots anyway.
The viz on this side was very good and with the wind reversal there was no current to speak of.





The longer movie of this guy is on my You Tube page...check it out, he was pretty.

I must say, this was probably up there with the most wonderful sightings...except for Lac Cai

At this point we headed toward the lighthouse. The area was full of cars. This site is normally not a shore dive so we were very excited!

We spotted a couple of squid, another turtle, it was a wonderful dive. Again, no current, excellent viz!


Friday Morning, we met Bas (Kenny, Cindy, Ken and I) and dove Lac Cai..WOW.
The images are on my flickr page. We probably say 15 Eagle Rays. A huge Porcupine fish. a very large barracuda. Many large groups of schooling fish. This dive was amazing and Bas is an EXCELLENT guide! Ken spent more time with him later in the week also.
Lac Cai was definitely a great experience. The reversal was still there, no waves to speak of on entry and exit. Only a slight surge on the return. The viz was great and the sea life was to die for! what fun this dive was!!



From Lac Cai, we hit the lighthouse again. We figured we needed to do it while we could!
This time there was a decent current and we drifted back. The viz was a little diminished from the previous day, not too much though.

We headed back to Eden for more tanks and went to Ole blue.
We (I) were in such a hurry that the Canon got left at the room. very bummed about that. The Beach at Ole Blue was washed away and we just had to climb dow the 3 or 4 foot drop and pass our tanks down. It was OK though, the dive was worth it. There was much damage to the coral up shallow. The pillars were crushed if not just knocked over. It was sad to look at, but it will recover. It did after Lenny.

From here we did a very shallow dive at Karpata.
The urchins are all washed off the cement where you enter, good news. The sidewalk to the water is gone though and covered with large coral and rocks. The entry was knee level past the cement though. Was very easy.
It was very fun to hang out in the shallow areas of this site. Saw several scorpion fish. A fire worm. Many other neat little guys since we didnt have a camera it seemed like we saw more.

So, we headed back to town and jumped into Ken's jeep. He and Cindy had already tore it up the day before, haha.We went to the Cross and watched the sunset. So pretty from up there...




We then went into town and had dinner at Capriccios after wandering around to look at the damage for a while.
The dinner was the most delicious and gracious dining experience I have had at a dining establishment on BON so far. (thats not saying alot of bad about other places necessarily, we don't eat out often)
At Capriccios, they seated us early, we were hungry....The brought us Mimosas immediately and the most delicious bread.
They took our order promptly. The food took a little while, but not too long. The bread held us over very nicely!

Everyone enjoyed their meal. Cindy and Ken got the Lobster and pasta meal(sorry, I do not recall the names, I couldn't pronounce them anyway)

I had a mushroom and Pasta dish. WOW, it was wonderful.
After dinner, they brought us a shot of liquor.

Our overall experience at Capriccios was wonderful, the bill for the 4 of us was barely over $100 US. And we truly pigged out, LOL.
WE all felt like we got a lot of food and drink for what we spent.

Saturday we got up early. Ken met us at Eden and we hopped in his jeep to go to the Park. It was a beautiful day. The park was closed but we got some nice pictures anyway. We stopped at the indian Inscriptions on the way back. What a sacred place. We spent a long time there and felt very blessed for it.






We had a wonderful visit to the inscriptions. I had never been there before. I could have spent the whole day!! There was so much life, so beautiful!


So, we went back to the hotel and took all our stuff to the Airport.
Hopped in the car with Ken and went to PapaGayo's.
I must say, YUM!!

I had the Mushroom bread and it was to die for. The service was better than average and the price was reasonable. I had noticed that there were always quite a few people there and figured it must be pretty good. We were not disappointed. We will go back!

So, off to the donkey Sanctuary. They were hilarious. They ran after us in the jeep. It was fun to visit and we got some cute videos and pictures.





I am planning my next trip in March. I hope plane tickets go down soon!!




Be sure to check out the flickr site and you tube. I am no photographer or videographer but we got some pretty decent shots!

here's the mushroom and the "Guardian" rotated correctly


Please forgive my many typo's. It took me 3 days to type this and by the time I attached the pictures and went back to read it again, it wouldn't let me edit it.
Oh well...another Bright please!!

(Message edited by kristi_tn on November 4, 2008)

(Message edited by kristi_tn on November 4, 2008)

Lovely Trip Report Kristi

you're forgiven

a Bright for you


Thank you

Well done Krispi.

Good report Kristi, thanks for sharing... Ron

lol. I just came here to post my trip report and saw yours.

I too had a great time with all of you! Bonaire lends itself to meeting so many great people and making friends. Maybe again next October? I'm already headed to AZ and Utah in February.

Here's a pic of Kristi taking the mushroom pic posted above

Krispi: What a great trip report!

Oh Ken...shame on you!!
Paybacks are h**L you know, haha
clang clang

let see, what pictures do I have of Ole Ken??
hmmmm

That mushroom was supposed to look bigger than humans...hehe

I left out the clanger part in my trip report. I'll let you describe it

hehe...naa

hi Ron!!

all the donkeys have that pretty stripe on their backs, they are so neat....

I think that means they are all 1st cousins..haha

oh and Roy
YUM
thank you!

kristi, great report and pics, thanks for sharing. Can't wait to take a look at the vids later

Absolutely wonderful report. Great story and pictures.
Thank you for taking the time for sharing this with us.

Krispi, that was just wonderful!!!
Thank you so much for beating Tara to hers!!LMAO

Now I must go to the links for more pics and more videos!!!! THANKS!!!

OK, I'm still here...I think my next trip I will plan following your itenerary...
Except for the "Omar" part, I think we'll skip that. But I did like how yall handled that and just enjoyed yourselves in spite of it all. Yall just went and had a good time.
OH, THIS WAS KRISTI AND KENNY'S HONEYMOON!!!!
FOR ANYONE THAT DIDN'T KNOW....

(Message edited by pegisue on November 5, 2008)

Pegi SUE, LOL
I forgot to mention that huh...OOPS...hehe

I would never wish another Omar on Bon, but it was such an experience. I will upload more vids and pictures today if I can. I have many more!
We got 18 dives in, in SPITE of Omar!
I may have made 30...the DOG

oh and...na na na na Tara!


hehe

Hmmm....the HONEYMOON's over, THERE's your sign!!!
You forgot!!!LMDAO

hehe

I guess I figured everyone already knew....
HEY, BT knew before my Mother...

(Message edited by kristi_tn on November 5, 2008)

Nice trip report Krisp!!!

Great trip reports Ken and Kristi. It was fun meeting everyone!!!

clang clang...great report!

Sorry I am so late with my reaction...too much diving going on ;-)

Thanks for your kind words....it was indeed a WHOPPER of a dive at Cai!!!

clang clang

Keep clanging :-)

Bas, we had so much fun with you!!
Thank you so much for the guided tour of Lac Cai!
We look forward to diving with you again in the spring!

don't throw around your clanger...Geesch!!

Nice report, Kristi! Haven't had time to look at all the pics or videos yet, but I will. Thanks!

Kristi....great report! Thanks for taking the time to put it together & your pics are great too Love the octo & squid Wow.....that's one trip you won't soon forget
We go to the Indian Inscription areas every time we're on Bon & always find something new. It's so awesome there & so beautiful.

Great report Krispi

lol

attack of the giant mushroom...LOL! now all we need is a giant iguana in there too...LOL (hint hint)

Love it Timmmy, hehe

Great job! I had to wait to get to campus to look at it all. Thanks so much for putting this together.

Thx! It did take a while, was a nice trip down memory lane...need to go back now...hmmm

That was really great!!!!

even if ya'll are naggy ol' sumbodys HaHa

Great report Kristi!! Love all the pics and the narrative! Hope to see you there some time! Soon, of course!